I made cheesecake!!!!!

When I committed to making cheesecake for class today, I did so having never done it before. Scary, huh? But, it was a good thing because I have always wanted to and now I could not put it off. So, this weekend I did a practice batch. This was the first time I had used a hand mixer in probably 10 years. It was hilarious!! When I first began mixing cream cheese started flying. There were little bits on me, on the wall, on the countertop. I eventually got it under control and everything went pretty smoothly. I made 3 different kinds: classic, chocolate swirl, and chocolate (the actual recipe was for chocolate swirl). When it was all said and done they were quite tasty. My neighbors had some and really liked them and even Brian, who is really picky and mean about my cooking, loved the classic. That's a good sign. This morning I got up and made the batch for class, classic only because it was easier at this point. I managed to keep all of the ingredients in the bowl. Hopefully everyone likes them! And now that I know how to do it, I won't have to sit out desert on the holidays. I can make my own gluten free cheesecake!!!

Things on MY desk....

Since this is the next to last post before the end of the class, I though I would go ahead and delve in to the very popular "what's on my desk" segment. Here goes... (by the way this is my desk at home which will soon become apparent)


* Computer (desktop)
* Computer (laptop)
* Printer
* An external hard-drive that apparently no longer works (I really need to get it looked at)
* Two binders - one for class and one full of journal articles for my paper
* Some weird handle to a suitcase, not sure where it magically appeared from
* A few bills
* A small bathroom mirror
* License plate renewal reminder
* A small purple water gun (my son's bath toy)
* A can of tuna (my son has wanted to carry it around the house and this is where it ended up)
* "Miss Kitty" (She is a little stuffed cat that came from the lounge singer at our hotel in Vegas. She also     gave me my engagement ring and will, at least in a discreet way, be at our wedding)
* A stuffed shark dog toy (for me, not the dog)
* iMac remote control
* A stack of pictures I have been meaning to put somewhere
* A Christmas ornament that did not make it back into the box last year
* A "Magic Plant" stocking stuffer for the big kid


These are all on the actual desk or second shelf. I also have two enclosed hutch cabinets. We will skip those. It's all the normal desk stuff. Let's move on to the top of the hutch...


* A conch shell
* Large dried starfish (came from vacation in Florida when I was 5ish)
* Camera
* Brian's dry cleaning that he will never take
* Clipboard
* Bag of crap from Brian's truck that has been sitting there for at least 6 months
* Two kids hardback comic books meant for the consignment sale


This actually makes my desk sound like a huge mess, but it is not. I am a neat freak. Or at least I use to be. I have been teased so much in the past about my overboard organization (I use to color code my folders and make sure that any dividers and tabs matched, weird shit). Unfortunately, Brian does not share or appreciate my hatred of clutter and now, no matter how hard I try, I cannot escape it. Plus, having a two year old dragging everything everywhere and not picking anything up does not help. I do my best and my desk is the one thing that I can, for the most part, keep as "mine". Obviously, as can be seen in the list, Brian and Derek have managed to park some things in "my" space, but once my "end of the semester is here I have time to clean EVERYTHING" time comes, it will be gone (at least temporarily). 

I never met a mushroom I didn't like

As I was looking around online for Christmas gift ideas, I came across this site: uncommongoods.com.


They have a variety of unusual gifts, home items, clothing, and other random stuff. One of the cool things I came across was a mushroom growing kit. They claim that in just 10 days you can harvest your first batch of up to 1.5 pounds of oyster mushrooms and the kit can yield up to 4 harvests. All you have to do is mist it with water. I am intrigued. I've never met a mushroom I didn't like. Seriously, I could eat them in one form or another (sauteed, fried, baked, raw) at every meal. But, I think that I want someone else to play the guinea pig for this first, so I will probably send one to a friend for Christmas and see how it goes. The user reviews are all really good, so I am thinking it probably works. With shipping, if you actually get 4 harvests, it is about the same price you would pay for them in the grocery store. Anyway, if you are looking for something different, and maybe a little odd, to give someone, definitely check this site out.

Bambi's mom isn't dead...yet

Before anyone starts thinking I am a horrible person, let me explain my stance on hunting. I do not support "trophy hunting." Killing an animal just so you can mount it's head on the wall is not ok. Hunting exotic and endangered animals for their fur is not ok. But, hunting deer or other game animals with the intention of using the animal for food is totally acceptable. It is much more humane than most of the cattle and chicken farming that supplies grocery stores and that we walk in a buy with no thought as to how inhumanely the animals are treated. Deer meat is natural, no hormones or antibiotics, it is also healthy because it is so lean. That being said, we hunt (or at least my fiance does). His family has land in Mason, Texas which is one of the most highly populated deer counties in Texas. They have deer feeders set up in the fields and even have game cameras that take still photos all day of the deer at the feeders. They are very conscious of the population in the area, how many does and bucks there are, how many new fawn there are, etc. They are already concerned about the implications that this year's drought will have and decided to limit the number of deer that the family could shoot. It's quite refreshing to see that kind of concern considering that most people could really care less. All of the guys hunt, but they rarely actually shot anything. And most of them do not eat deer so they are unfortunately just hunting for horns. But, we take the meat for ourselves so it all works out. Our goal last week was to bring home three deer to stock the freezer, but it didn't happen. Brian missed once and then hit one on the last day, but wounded it and it got away. Wounding a deer is very upsetting to everyone, they do not want to see any animal suffer, so the whole group went out to try to track the deer down, no luck. If we can somehow find time to make it back down there before the hunting season ends (Dec. 30th) we will. But it looks like our freezer might stay empty until next fall. On another note, our "vacation" sucked. I was really sick for 2 days, our nice dinner out with no kids resulted in the owner of the restaurant (a woman) practically assaulting Brian (don't ask!) and I had no internet, even on my iPhone, for a week!!!! We did bring home BBQ from the best place in the world though and now I am going to go eat some! 

Vacation (sort of!)

So, after a long week and another possibly failed experiment, Brian and I are heading to Mason tomorrow. The little man is staying with Grandma and Paw Paw and we are spending a week in the middle of nowhere. The drive is about 6 hours, but that is with a stop in Llano for the best barbeque in the world!!! We always stop at Cooper's for brisket and sausage and end up eating it everyday. We will also head to Fredericksburg at some point to stop at Opa's for dried sausage (yes, we eat a lot of sausage of all kinds). But the real "meat" of this trip will be deer hunting. The plan is for Brian to shot 3 deer on this trip, which we will quarter and bring home to fill the freezer with. This will, unfortunetly, take up a lot of my no-child relaxing time because I will have to help Brian cut up and package all of the meat. But, I guess that is a small price to pay for a year's worth of really good, natural meat. Hopefully I will find some time to lay around and read magazines, maybe take some naps, and enjoy sleeping in. An all day rain event would be ideal, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. Also, I will have to drive to town on Thursday so I will have internet to do a little Christmas shopping. Then I have to cook a bunch of stuff for Thanksgiving dinner. Hey, I am starting to think that my to-do list for this trip is getting too big.....

The little boy is 2!!!

So, this weekend we had our son's birthday party at his Grandma and Paw Paw's down at Lake Texoma. His birthday is actually tomorrow (he'll be 2). The party ended up being thrown together last minute, not by my choice, and I didn't get to do everything I would have liked. Brian and I hadn't even bought him a present yet!! But, all of his little cousins came and had a great time. Derek blew out his candle all by himself, tore up a chocolate cupcake, and got some cute toys. It was a very long weekend though and a long drive home Sunday night. I managed to get sick again Monday morning (this is the third stomach bug in 5 weeks...has to be the long term antibiotics). Now, after only being home for basically 1 day, we get to turn around tomorrow and head back to the lake so I can run an experiment, then drive to Mason, Texas for a few days, and then back for Thanksgiving. I am worn out!

Phys Sci computer lab

I have always used the Arts and Sciences computer lab in the library. I don't know why, I just have. Every time I go in there I end up sitting for 5 minutes waiting for those crappy computers to load. It's really frustrating when I am in a big hurry. Sometimes they never load and I have to move to the next computer and try again. Well, last week I discovered the computer lab in the Physical Sciences building (we moved our lab there last week). Today, I walked in, logged on in about 2 seconds, and these are nice computers. I am really annoyed that it took me until now to find this little slice of Heaven. I am pretty stoked about it. I hope that the huge asteroid doesn't wipe it out later today. That would suck to have to go back to the slow computers. Although, I guess I wouldn't be around to use them anyway.....

Eaaarthquaaaaake!!!!!!!

If you are reading this blog, then you too survived the great earthquake of 2011. It was a day that few of us will forget.


Saturday, November 5th began as a calm, breezy day. It was a great day for college football, cookouts, and just having fun. Unfortunately, I was sick in bed with a stomach virus and my mom drove down from Tulsa to help take care of the kids. I managed to weather the sickness and watch the games, but after that I was too exhausted to keep my eyes open any longer and I tried to go to sleep. That is when disaster struck. I heard the faint sound of a large truck, or so I thought, which then turned into the sound of a jet airplane barreling down on my house. Suddenly, my bed began to violently shake and I leapt from my bed to the floor, but the shaking did not stop. I ran into the living room at the same time my older son did the same. We both woke my mom up who had no idea what was going on. I was watching the chandelier in the kitchen swaying back and forth when suddenly the shaking stopped. It was over and we were survivors. As I saw the news reports flooding in and the pictures of cracked sidewalks and turned over lawn furniture, I realized how lucky we were. That was one of those days that I will look back on for the rest of my life and be thankful to have made it through.


Bahahahahaha, on a more serious note, that earthquake did scare the crap out of me! Fortunately, at that point I was done "being sick". That could have been messy.....

My wierd dream staring Dr. Hoefnagles

I have always been one of those people who have very vivid dreams, often ones that I can control to some extent, and I usually remember them the next morning. Lately I have been having a lot of sleeping problems (doctors think I may have sleep apnea) and even more recently I have started having major insomnia, despite the fact that I am exhausted beyond belief. This is probably being caused by the antibiotics that I am on long term and it is really becoming miserable. For these reasons, I have not been dreaming as much lately. But last night I apparently slept really well and had dreams all night. One of them had Dr. Hoefnagles in it.

Basically, in my dream, I was taking some sort of weird intro chemistry/lab techniques course with my fiance and Dr. Hoefnagles was the professor. Everyone in the class was given a big tub full of various pieces and we had to sort through and find the pieces needed to put together a filtering apparatus. My tub was missing a piece needed to put it together and when I told the professor she started yelling at me and saying that it was in there and I needed to find it because I was running out of time. Eventually I was able to prove that the piece was missing and I had to "MacGyuver" a piece to replace it using a drinking straw! I know, this is a wierd dream. Anyway, I finally got my apparatus together and was told that I had some extra time to finish the filtering since I had lost time due to the missing piece. Then I had to do some filtering using different sized filter papers and I guess that is where the dream ended.

So, I am definetly not a dream interpreter, but here are my thoughts. First, I really doubt that Dr. Hoefnagles would yell at a student the way she did at me in this dream. However, my advisor would, so maybe my dream got confused on who should be in it. Second, one of the big problems in finishing my experiment has been filtering issues, so I guess that is why I dreamt about it. I am sure the big tub of pieces means something, but I have no idea what. Also, in the dream, my fiance had no issues with his apparatus and was "perfect" as usual. He acts like that in real life to and I was pretty pissed at him about some things yesterday so I guess my resentment came out in my dream. That's about it. I really wish I could go back to my more action packed dreams where I am part of the squad on Law and Order: SVU so I can chase people and shoot them. I think some of my stress gets released in these dreams and I could really use that right now....

Waking up to roofers...

So, we are finally getting our roof fixed today from the downburst that hit Norman back in the spring. The sound of banging on the roof is what I woke up to this morning. Very pleasant. The other thing that is so great about this is all of the roofing shit that will inevitably be left behind in little pieces all over my yard. We have a very nice front yard with grass that is about 3 inches thich, very soft, and weed free. Brian is very proud of it and enjoys the endless compliments that he recieves. It is also where our son plays when he is outside (the dog has taken over the backyard and is too hyper to be around the little guy). Even though the roofers used those little magnetic things to get up all of the loose nails, there is no way that it will pull them all up from the depths of our lush grass. I have no idea how we will find them all and I am very worried that someone will end up with a nail stuck in them. We asked the roofers if we could put a big tarp over the front yard and flower beds and they said that it would cause more problems. But, as I looked at my poor flower bed this morning, I can't figure out how that would make things worse. My poor bushes are full of roof pieces, nails and whatever other crap came off of the roof and there will be no way to get it all out. It is all prety frustrating and I hope that no more big storms hit us anytime soon because I don't want to go through this roofing thing again!!!

Free stuff!!

I have never seen someone get more free stuff in my life than my fiance. And by free stuff, I don't mean winning something in a contest or free samples. I am talking about businesses giving him free stuff because they have screwed up. 

Example 1: Before our son was born we went shopping for cribs. We decided to buy one from the consignment store Once Upon a Child. I knew that they were suppose to be very up to date on any recalls so I felt comfortable when we chose a drop side crib and took it home. One week later was the BIG crib recal that included almost all drop side cribs. I was pissed that this hadn't come out a week earlier before we threw $100 down the drain. However, after doing some research, the crib we bought had actually been recalled about 8 months earlier and the store missed it. So, my fiance went and spoke with the manager and ended up walking out with a refund, a brand new high dollar convertable crib, and a bunch of store credit. Now this was actually a situation where a lawsuit could have been in order, so they wanted to do anything to make the situation right. But still, free stuff.

Example 2: Last week he went to get two tires replaced on his truck. He asked for the back two tires, which were obviously in the worst shape, to be replaced and for the better of the two to be placed in the truckbed to be a spare. The next day, he realized that they had mistakingly replaced the two front tires, the good ones, and had not left him with a spare. He got two more new tires free.

Example 3: We went to Vegas for the first time last summer. We got a really great deal on our room and were really excited. When we got to the hotel to check in there was apparently some sort of mistake on the booking and we were upgraded to a suite. Now, upgrades happen all the time in Vegas, but I have no doubt that it wouldn't have happened if I was there without him. I can't explain why, people just like to give him free stuff.

Example 4: I think everyone has had a bad restaurant experience or two. I'm sure plenty of people I know have gotten a free meal from someplace because of an order mistake or just bad food. But, for some reason, Brian has horrible luck when it comes to eating out or going to a fast food restaurant. I cannot even begin to count the number of free meals he has gotten. In fact, McDonalds has screwed his order up twice in just the past two weeks and given him free meal coupons. It probably sounds like he is trying to find ways to get free food, but these are genuinely situations where they have just flat out given him the wrong meal order and when he calls to complain they give him free stuff. It is also comical, because Brian works in the restaurant industry and he NEVER gives people free meals. He can always talk his way around anything.

Example 5: Cox cable is one of the worst companies on the planet. I don't know anyone who has not dealt with problems from them. And it is very rare to actually get anywhere with them. They are right, you are wrong, end of story. They say you owe money for something that you know you don't and they can't even tell you what the charge is for, but they will get it out of you one way or another. Twice in the past two years we have not only gotten a refund on something we should not have been charged for, we have gotten additional credit towards our bill. Unheard of!

There are many, many other examples I could give, but I think I have gotten the point across. This does not even include all of the free stuff he gets from friends, like tickets to sporting events. It is seriously ridiculous. I have never seen anything like it before. I am just waiting for him to come up with some way to get our entire wedding for free. I don't think he is that talented, but it is something to shoot for.

Long weekend....

In hopes of finally finishing this current experiment once and for all, I went down to the Biological Station on Friday. I should have known before I ever left that it wasn't going to go well. My professor constantly brings up how I am plagued by bad lusk and this past week was no exception. I was originally planning to leave Wednesday night, but a bad case of food poisoning had me down and out until Friday morning. After getting the car packed (including the kiddo) Friday morning the car wouldn't start. We got it jumped and off we went. On the drive down I called our lab manager to make sure that the water and culture that they had filtered for me was taken out to thaw. It was, but all of the glass jars with water had shattered. Once I got to the station I spent part of the day changing out water baths to get my culture to thaw. In the meantime I tried to get more water filtered. Getting 100% bacteria free anything has been a big challenge for us and the pricy filter we were using was just shot after filtering my culture through, so I had to just go with some pretty dirty water. After 7 hours the culture thawed, but due to baby sitting issues my day had to end. I put everything back in the cold room to start again in the morning. I finally got the experiment set up by about noon the next day, but unfortunetly after a 24 hour assay on fish it was apparent that my culture had lost toxicity after sitting for 24 hours, presumably eaten away by bacteria. Just GRAND! So now I will patiently wait for a month for a new culture to grow and try this all over. I wonder what will go wrong next time?

Vitamins

So, I have been doing my best to get in the regular habit of taking vitamins and fish oil supplements. I figured this was a good thing. Then today I read two different articles on Yahoo Science. One says that the health benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids may not be as great as previously thought and that the supplements may not have the same affects as actually eating the fish. The other article says that long term use of multivitamins may increase a woman's risk of dying. Although it looks like their study may have been pretty dumb and the data are not that strong, it just bothers me when ideas like this come about after always assuming that this was something good for you. This is another reason I am trying to get away from processed foods, etc. I have no doubt that many, many years down the road they will begin to link all sorts of ailments to just that. As great as science can be, we have created so many "things" that are going to come back and bite us in the ass long term (many things already have). I am saying this, of course, after devouring some delicious pork chops that were probably full of antibiotics and hormones, some fresh squash likely contaminated with pesticides, and some canned baked beans with a million ingredients that are difficult to pronounce. I guess I will have to try the all natural thing another day....

Self critiquing

I am sure that everyone can agree that watching a video of yourself and critiquing it can be horrifying. Most people (except those with unwavering cockiness) tend to be much harder on themselves than the audience who critiques you on the spot. When watching ourselves we focus in on every stinking detail as opposed to looking at the whole picture. However, I think this is a good thing because outside reviewers often hold back for fear of being mean or hurting someone's feelings (even if they are anonymous). I have learned over time that even the best presentation has something that can be improved upon and not giving any criticism or advice is doing an injustice to that person. I always feel that I am being to picky or hard when I am asked to provide a critique, but I also try to address all of the positives as well. That being said, often the best critique is that of ourselves, because if we don't think that it is perfect then it isn't. So tonight I went through the motions of ripping my presentation apart, but I don't feel bad after doing it. I feel good that I can improve upon my mistakes and hopefully next time I present I won't say "ummm" incessantly. 

Go Rangers!!!

Well, it's baseball playoff time. I was never a baseball fan until after I started dating Brian and was forced to watch it almost nightly. Unlike football, my sport of choice, baseball isn't just a couple of days a week. Eventually, I guess I just gave in because I could either find a way to like it or be pissed off having to watch it non-stop (this was not a subject of compromise for Brian). Now, 3 years later I am a Rangers fan and the season continues since we made the playoffs. Maybe we will make it to the World Series for the second year in a row. It would have been nice to have gotten tickets for the World Series, but they sold out right after going on sale Sunday. Oh well. In the meantime, we still have it on tv EVERY night! Honestly, I am pretty glad it is winding down because until it does Brian will be absolutely useless. The game may only be 3 hours, but somehow he tries to justify making it an all day event. I can understand that if you are physically going to a game, tailgating, maybe having a party at the house with friends, but not when it is just you sitting on the couch. Anyway, I guess I should get to work on all of the chores that I will get no help with....

Why beetles have sex with beer bottles

I struggle to write about science as much as I should for this blog. I really hope this does not get back to the wrong person, but I think I am just burnt out from the stress of it right now. Maybe, however, it is because I am doing the wrong kind of science! Maybe I should just do really stupid and pointless science so that I can win an Ig Nobel prize! Seriously, for anyone who has not heard of this you should definitely check out this year's winners. Today was the first time I had ever heard of this and I actually laughed out loud. The awards are meant to mock the real Nobel science awards, but the fact that people actually did these experiments blows my mind. I want to know how they keep their jobs doing this so I can go there and get a job.


Here is a link to the award winners:
http://news.techworld.com/personal-tech/3307337/for-science-proud-ig-nobel-prize-winners-of-2011/?olo=rss


The funniest thing was one of the closing statements: "If you didn’t win an Ig Nobel prize this year, and especially if you did, better luck next year." Bahahahahahaha!


Also, check out this link:  http://news.yahoo.com/why-beetles-sex-beer-bottles-q-scientists-200203561.html 


At least these guys were able to come up with some somewhat reasonable scientific ideas about the long term effects of having sex with beer bottles for these beetles. This is much better than the wasabi fire alarm or the dangers of driving with a full bladder.


Seriously, I think this is what I should shoot for considering all of my issues with doing science....

I hate the word "procrastination"

There are plenty of situations where the word "procrastination" can apply to me. I try not to procrastinate, but it just happens. Yet, it seems when I work hard to get something done well in advance I cannot make any progress and it still ends up getting done last minute. Lets take a presentation for example. I can sit and work for days attempting to put together a really great presentation and the entire time I either draw a complete blank or I end up hating what I have done and erase it all. Once the deadline nears and the pressure is on everything just seems to flow right onto the screen as if I am not even doing it. This is not an isolated incident. This tends to be the norm for me. A couple of years ago I had roughly two months to put together a 15-20 page review paper for a class. I spent plenty of time gathering up all of the articles I would reference, but everytime I sat down to write I just sat and stared at a blank screen. The night before it was due (yes, the night before) I sat down and wrote the entire thing, finished about 6am and ended up with the highest grade in the class on that paper. I have no idea what phenomenon causes this but I wish I could remedy it. As well as things tend to work out, I really wish I could get projects and papers done (to my liking) as soon as they are assigned so that I don't have to cary that stress around until the last minute. That being said, I hope everyone likes my presentation today!!

Recycling

Whenever Norman began the curbside recycling I thought it was so neat and I was really excited. Of course I hardly ever used it like most people I knew. I always planned to, but it really just slipped my mind and the big green tub ended up somwhere in the backyard. The few times I did use it were generally for newpapers, phone books and end-of-the-semester folder cleanout (those are the most amazing days!). Lately, however, I have really gotten into the whole recycling thing. It has almost become second nature for me to put everything allowed into that tub. Beofre I throw anything in the trash I stop and decide if it can be recycled and it very often can. I am quite proud of myself, although there are times when walking into the garage seems like such a difficult task that I decide saving the planet just isn't worth that grueling walk. But progress is progress. My biggest question is why cardboard is not allowed in the recycling? We have to take a trip to the recycling center on a weekly basis to take cardboard and I don't even bother with the small boxes (i.e. crackers, pop tarts). If those could go in my tub I could probably eliminate at least half of what use to go in the trash can. At that point I would probably have to pay the $3 charge to get another tub because as of today mine is already full and doesn't get picked up until Thursday. Huh, maybe I already need another one. Yay for me, the new recycling queen!

I'm getting married!

Well, in the words of several of our friends it’s ‘bout time! After 3 years together and an almost 2 year old little one, Brian and I are finally getting married! This is not a real shocker because it is something that has been in the works for quite a while, but it is still new and exciting. I knew the ring was bought and that it was coming soon and it finally did make its way to my finger on Tuesday. Of course, even five days later, I cannot quit looking at it and it still has not completely sunk in. But the stress has already set in.

We already knew where we wanted to get married and that makes planning difficult. We are going to have our ceremony in a small, small town in southeast Texas where part of Brian’s family is from. The church was built in the 1850’s and is just the cutest thing ever. We figure the reception will need to be in the area and have come up with a couple of options to look into. But, we only have eight months (we think) until the wedding and only one trip down there planned in the near future. So this week the phone calls have to begin and some long distance scouting is in order. I am definitely the organized, persistent and time aware one out of the two of us so I will have to really push to get decisions made. But I guess this is all suppose to be fun and I am going to try to look at it in that way as much as I can. In the meantime it is time to put my imagination to work and see what fun ideas I can come up with!!

Where, oh where, did the satellite fall?

I think one of the more humorous things I have read lately has been the story of the falling NASA satellite. I am sure most people heard about the satellite a month ago and there have been the occasional blurbs on the news since then. At one point NASA said that they would be able to only give a 2 hour warning for where the satellite would fall and that there was little chance that anyone would be injured. The actual statistic they gave was a 1 in 3,200 chance. Really? Considering the number of people on the planet, that number does not jive with “little chance.”

Anyway, last night about 10:15 local time NASA announced that the satellite would likely fall between 10:45 and 11:45 (local time). So much for a 2 hour warning. But even better was the statement that at the time of re-entry into our atmosphere the satellite would be passing over Canada and Africa as well as the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Now it has been a really long time since I have had a geography class or looked at a map for that matter, but I am pretty sure that all of those locations are spread out across the Earth and in no way did that announcement narrow things down or provide any kind of warning.

So, when I woke up this morning I decided to look and see if indeed the satellite came down and, if so, where? Well, it did but there is still no consensus on where. Basically NASA is not sure where the satellite re-entered, but they think it happened over the Pacific and that it all ended up in the ocean. Oh, but wait! If you read another story, also supposedly based on information from NASA, if the satellite came down later than when they think (apparently they are just making times up and really have no idea) then it would have rained down pieces over the Northwestern US. And, despite people all over the world looking up towards the sky for this falling satellite that was expected to be very visible as it came down, there are no sightings being reported and no pieces have been found yet.

Maybe it did end up in the ocean and maybe it broke apart differently than expected which did not give the visible show that everyone expected. I have no idea and have frankly lost interest during the time that I have spent writing this. But, what would be funny (and I don’t mean this in a sadistic way) is if all of those pieces are still floating around in the atmosphere and haven’t dropped yet, because today the statistic reported earlier is now being stated as 1 in 21 trillion. Maybe they shouldn’t speak so soon since they obviously have no idea what is going on….

The woes of finding medical information

Yesterday was one of those days where I was very thankful to have the science background that I have and the ability to read and understand primary literature. I received a call from my doctor’s office letting me know that I have a condition for which I will need to follow up with the doctor to discuss the treatment plan. I had not heard of this condition before and, being a researcher, I immediately got online to gather my own information. Typically you can do a quick Google search on any medical issue and come up with more information than you could read in a lifetime. Much to my surprise that was not the case this time.

Apparently this condition, although not incredibly serious, is very rare. Rare enough that I found roughly ten web pages that essentially had the same material cut and pasted into each. What I found was not particularly good information, not detailed and left me with a lot of questions. However, among the pages I found were several medical journal articles that went into much greater detail and provided me with at least a little more ammunition to walk in with when I discuss everything with the doctor tomorrow. Fortunately I have the ability to read and understand this type of writing and am not intimidated by it even though there are plenty of things within that I did not understand. For most people this would be a daunting task and very few would even attempt to read these papers.

This is, unfortunately, one of the issues with health care today. Individuals are left to put 100% of their trust in doctors because they simply do not have access to the information they need to be in control of their own care. In many cases this can be a problem if the doctor is, for lack of better words, uninterested in the patients health and unwilling to do the research needed to better treat them. I think at one time or another we have all experienced a situation like that.

I will be heading into my appointment with a list of questions and a pretty decent understanding of the disease, its complications and the treatment methods. I have no qualms in questioning the doctor if I do not feel that what he prescribes is the right treatment. Although I am not a doctor and will, in the end, follow whatever he says, I can at least do so in an educated fashion. And, at the end of the day, I definitely learned some new and interesting stuff in the world of microbial biology! Since this disease is so rare maybe I should change research tracks so that I can find some more answers about this elusive microbe!

The LAST experiment (I hope)!

For the past year I have been working on my toxin degradation experiment. Over the summer there was a point when my adviser was decided that enough data had been collected to write up the paper. About 2 weeks later he changed his mind. I tried a couple of other experiments that he suggested but for a variety or reasons (mostly a lack of the needed equipment) they did not work. By that point the summer was over and it was time to head back to Norman. Because I need some of the machinery that is only available at the Biological Station, I could not continue trying any other experiments...until now. A new filtering system was ordered and I am set to head to the station after class on Tuesday and stay until Sunday. I feel an extreme amount of stress given that this may be a one shot try at finalizing the past year's worth of work. I feel like I have done some really grest work in the past experiments, but everytime something goes wong that is what is emphasized and all of my triumphs are forgotten. For that reason I tend to get extremely uptight and flustered when things start to falter and I definetly shed my fair share of tears over the summer. They were tears of frustration, but they would not fall if I did not care so much about my experiment. These things seem to take on a life of their own, or maybe they just take over your life. Either way, I am in a one hundred percent positive frame of mind at this point and am hoping to make it through this with a final set of data to make this paper a go. Updates will of course follow later this week!

Sharing writing knowledge

I love to write and I think that I am fairly good at it. By no means am I perfect and I have learned a great deal just in the first few weeks of this class. I realize how much I have learned by reviewing other peoples writing and applying it. My neighbor is taking graduate classes at UCO and after telling me that she had to write a summary paper every week I offered to look over them for her. She was very happy because she hates to write and I was happy to get some more practice. I have reviewed her papers the past two weeks and have been able to apply so many things that I have learned. I have also given her copies of a couple of the chapters from our book as well as the last lecture so that she can improve her writing without relying on me to fix it. It is amazing how you can learn not only from your own writing but also reading that of others.  I find myself questioning whether a certain comma is in the proper spot or whether a sentence is formatted correctly and this in turn makes me more critical of my own writing. I think that anyone who wants to be a great writer should really attempt to get into some sort of writing review program (the writing center?) because it can be such an eye opening and creative experience.

Weekly writing assignment

Below is my re-write of the case study argument that we worked on last week. It comes from Hutchinson 1959 and is titled. "Interrelations of food chains."

Among ecologists, the question of why there are so many species of animals can be answered by looking at the way food webs function. Food webs consist of many levels and often a level will contain more than one species. If one of those species becomes scarce, a predator will have an alternate food source and, therefore, the extinction of any of the species will be prevented. As a result, a community with greater species diversity will be more stable and will also outlast a less diversified community.

Regardless of stability, community food web structure will evolve. A more efficient species will replace one which is less efficient. If a new species is introduced it may completely replace a pre-existing species or it may share that level of the food web. A new species may also fill in an area of the food web that was not previously occupied. These possibilities of change within a community can work to increase stability. However, there seems to be a point at which further diversification levels off and the opportunities for new species to invade become rarer. The unanswered question that remains is what causes this leveling off and why are there not more different kinds of animals?